I'd driven madly for days. At first I had nowhere to go, so I circled around Forks. When I realized they had left I chose to drive to both Port Angeles and then Seattle. By the time I had gotten to Seattle Doris had called.

"They've spotted the Chevy going south, Charlie."

They were taking her across state lines, God knows what for. All I knew, was that wherever they dragged Bella I would go too. And if a single hair was harmed on her head they would have to kill me before I killed every last one of them.

By the time I'd crossed over into Oregon I got another call. "They spotted the truck at a gas station in Nevada. They seem to be headed further south."

An entire state away. What was their angle? Why had they taken her hostage in the first place? Why were they keeping her alive? Carlisle--wherever that smirking asshole was--had said she was special. Why?

I drove on, weary and tired but motivated. No news came in for another eight hours. Eventually as I hit Nevada Doris called again. "Someone spotted the truck and a girl of Bella's description in Arizona."

"Phoenix?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Nevermind that. What else do you have?"

"They say they saw her near a hotel. She checked in with a girl and a man. The girl was described as short with a dark black pixie cut. The man was described as tall and blonde. About six feet something."

Tall and blonde wasn't enough to tell the difference between the Cullen men but the description of the girl was almost certainly Alice Cullen.

"Which hotel?"

"Looking into it. The witness can't seem to remember but they're on the lookout for any credit cards used in the Cullen's name."

It was unlikely that they were stupid enough to use their own credit cards and Jenks had made them countless identities. "Thanks. I know where to get the information. Hold on."

I hung up with Doris and pulled the car over and parked next to the empty highway. "Jenks. It's Charlie," I said after I'd dialed his number.

"What is it, Chief? I'm with my family." Somewhere behind him I could hear little girl's laughter and play.

"Kiss them goodnight. The Cullens have my daughter."

The line was silent. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"I want you to mail the name and social of every Cullen to my phone."

"Charlie..."

"Goddamn it! Just give me the names!"

"They'll kill me."

"They won't know you told. I'll make sure of it." My voice started cracking. "Please! They've got Bella. This isn't a cop asking an informant or questioning a criminal. Father to father--they have my little girl!"

The line remained silent for what seemed like an agonizing amount of time. The only thing heard was my own desperate breathing and the sound of his daughters giggling. "I'm sending the information."

"Thank you."

He hung up without another word and so I sat by the side of the highway, holding my breath and praying he'd keep his promise. In under twenty minutes he'd sent the names--all of them. Every name they had ever been known by or conducted business under. He'd left his name unattached so I was free to forward the list to the police.

I called the department right after. "Doris?"

"We got the names, Charlie."

"Pay close attention to credit cards, license plates, and airline tickets."

"Okay."

It would take a while for her to get back to me, and I wasn't about to just stall here on the side of the road so I moved on, speeding my way through the rest of Nevada and stopping only for piss breaks until I was finally in Phoenix. Eventually Doris called back.

"Charlie, we got a couple of hits."

"Yeah?"

"There's a hotel room downtown that was paid for with a credit card in the name of Jasper Whitlock. And a flight is due to land soon at the airport with a passenger on board who goes by the name Edward Mason.

That was them. "Give me the address for the airport."

**********************************************************

The airport drop-off was crowded by an ocean of weary travellers. Some were looking for their cabs or shuttles and some were just pulling up, and hauling their luggage from out of their family's cars.

Then I saw Edward.

He was standing in a small enclave just outside the doors, a grim frown doing nothing to hurt his pretty-boy face. He looked around, his eyes dashing madly through the crowd. Carlisle was there too.The girl--Alice, stood facing him with the tall blonde on her side. The name on the hotel room was Jasper. Jenk's contact.

There was another one there. A big one.

His back was to me, his shoulders straight and rigid and his dark hair trimmed short. The five of them huddled there, talking in hushed voices. I looked around but I didn't see Bella. I moved my way through the crowd, weaving my way past weary travellers and bumping shoulders with others but I didn't care to apologize.

When I was close enough I ducked back behind a support column and strained to hear over the chatter around me.

"Where is she?"

"She wasn't in the bathroom."

"Where would she go?"

"I had a vision. I think she's going to the ballet studio but I'm not sure where that is--Edward..."

"We'll find her," Carlisle's voice cut through the tension. "She's the one."

"Wherever she is we have to hurry--" Edward paused and inhaled so deeply I thought he would choke on the oxygen but instead he opened his dark red eyes and smiled from behind a shiny fanged grin. "Charlie Swan."

They didn't look my way, they only gestured slightly toward my direction. I tensed up, my hand ready to pull the pistol on my hip but my mind resisting and trying to reconcile the damage firing into such a large crowd of people would cause. I wouldn't draw attention to us here in this crowd, and from the way Edward's lips curled upward at my hesitation somehow he knew I wouldn't attack.

"Charlie," Edward said so slight I could barely hear. "It's such a pleasure to finally meet you."

He and his phony platitudes could go straight to hell. "Where's Bella?"

He frowned. "From your tone I can tell that you aren't one for pleasantries. That's a pity. This generation's lack of decorum leaves me tired and, much to my displeasure, impatient."

"Jesus, you gotta be a vampire and an asshole."

"I prefer to think of myself as of a higher purpose than name calling."

"Yeah, all narcissists do." I didn't drive all this way to trade barbs with this idiot. "Where is Bella?"

"I'm afraid we don't know," he said. "She ran away from us."

"Good."

"Not good," Alice's small frame came from behind her brothers. "She's being hunted by a vampire."

"What?" I looked between the Cullens, their faces were stone-still. "I thought you were hunting her."

"Charlie we've discussed this," said Carlisle with just the right amount of sarcasm to make me long to kill him. "We have no intention of harming Bella. She's important to us--probably even more to us than you."

"Impossible," I said. "I'm the only one here who wants what's best for her."

Carlisle shrugged. "Be that as it may, the person hunting Bella is probably the vampire who's been eating the campers."

The blood rushed from my head. The Cullens disappeared and in their place was the images of all those men reduced to nothing but bone, muscle, and organs. I thought of Bella and her small, frail body. I thought about how small she was that first day at the hospital when I cradled her in my arms, the way her tiny body had curled up, the first time it felt to feel like someone on this earth needed my protection--not for a job, not out of obligation, but out of love.

She wouldn't stand a chance against a vampire.

Before long I was conscious of the Cullens huddling around Alice. Her eyes had glossed over as she stood arrow straight in the center of the other Cullens. She trembled slightly, her lips moving wordlessly as she stared off into nowhere.

"What the hell's the matter with her?"

"Be silent." Carlisle's tone was full of an unusual malice. "What's happened."

"Something's changed," Alice swallowed and looked at me. "It's because he's here."

They looked at me.

"What's going on?"

"Charlie," Carlisle's face was a grim mask. Sometimes under his cool gaze it was hard to remember that he was a monster. "The vampire's who have been terrorizing Forks visited us."

"Vampires?" Plural.

He nodded. "Yes, there is more than one--three actually. They came upon my family while Bella was with us. Anyway one of them is...enamoured with Bella."

"Is that vampire speak for 'he wants to eat her'?"

"In so many crass words, yes. We know he's here in Phoenix. And we know, or rather think we know, where he's going." He stepped forward a bit, his compassion shining through golden eyes but not quite making their intended impact. "We don't know where Bella is, but she and James are destined to cross paths here."

Alice finished his thought, "She would have been certainly dead, but something changed...there's a chance now--but we need to hurry."

"Charlie," Carlisle looked at me without his applied compassion. "We think she's on her way to a ballet studio."

Ballet? Bella used to dance Ballet? I never got to see her--she quit pretty quickly, but I remember the pictures Renee used to send me. Bella in her little tights, smiling at the camera. Me calling, hearing her voice high with excitement. Renee complaining afterward that I owed her half of the cost of the lessons--even if I had no say in what her extracurriculars were.

I could hear her voice, some parts condemning me for not being there yet other parts blabbing about Bella. She loves it. She's bad at it. Her dance instructor hates me. The place is really out of the way. On that street....what was it? Oh I remember. Fifty Eighth Street and Cactus.

"I've gotten what we need," Edward's voice cut through my memories like warped glass. "I know where she's gone."

"Excellent." Said Carlisle.

Before I could get my mental bearings, the Cullens had strolled without sound or much fuss out of sight. The people around us didn't notice. I stood alone outside the airport, a fog seemingly lifted from over my eyes.

They'd vanished like mist in the sun and I had nothing to show for the interaction except a headache and confusion. If Bella was really going to the ballet studio to meet the vampire who intended to kill her, and the equally bad Cullens were close behind--then I didn't have much time.